Councils raise rubbish recycling rate to 14.5%

Household rubbish recycling rates in England for 2003 were the highest ever at 14.5%, and for the first time the total amount of household waste sent to landfill sites went down, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said yesterday.

Despite this the government was still well below its target of 17% for this year and 25% for 2005, with the environment minister, Elliot Morley, complaining that some councils failed to take legal targets seriously, and threatening that the government would take over their responsibilities.

His comment is borne out by local authority league tables showing that, where there is the political will, recycling rates of 25% are attainable by many councils.

Daventry district council in Northamptonshire comes top with a 44% recycling rate, and is next door to Corby borough council, which has a 4% rate.

Sedgefield, in the prime minister's constituency, last year came bottom of the recycling league but managed this year to get out of the bottom 10 by reaching 5%.

The City of London came bottom with 1%; the department accepted there were "special circumstances", but made no excuses for Liverpool and Manchester, which registered 2%. Mr Morley said: "Most councils are working hard to improve recycling rates, providing kerbside boxes and expanding the range of waste materials collected, for example.

"But a significant minority are still not doing enough - in some places the national minimum target of 10% has not been reached. But those who do not show a commitment to improve their recycling levels risk intervention by the government to make it happen."

Many councils now provide boxes for paper, glass, plastic bottles and containers and tin cans. Many are providing recycled plastic bins free to households to compost kitchen and garden waste that would otherwise go in general rubbish. The result has been a spectacular increase in recycling.

In other areas, where householders are given no help, the amount of recycling dropped, and one in 10 councils is still below a 5% recycling rate.

Jim Harker, vice-chair of the Local Government Association's environment board, said some councils were making excellent progress but others were being squeezed for funds for environmental services and "a host of new national and EU waste targets". Gordon Brown's squeeze on council funding came "at precisely the time councils need more funding to divert waste away from landfill to meet government targets - meaning many councils will have to spend before they can start to save. The inevitable result will be either increases in council tax, cuts in other services, or failure to meet national and EU targets."